Collura v. Multi Line Can Co., No. 90-01771

• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: BOOTH
• Citation: 598 So.2d 1072
• Parties: 17 Fla. L. Weekly D948 Louis COLLURA, Appellant, v. MULTI LINE CAN COMPANY and Hartford Insurance Company, Appellees.
• Docket Number: No. 90-01771
• Decision Date: 10 April 1992

Page 1072

598 So.2d 1072 17 Fla. L. Weekly D948 Louis COLLURA, Appellant,
v.
MULTI LINE CAN COMPANY and Hartford Insurance Company, Appellees. No. 90-01771. District Court of Appeal of Florida,
First District. April 10, 1992.
Rehearing Denied May 20, 1992.

Douglas H. Glicken, Douglas H. Glicken, P.A., Orlando, for appellant.

Claire L. Hamner, of Dickinson, O'Riorden, Gibbons & Shields, P.A., Sarasota, for appellees.

BOOTH, Judge.

This cause is before us on appeal from an order of the judge of compensation claims (JCC). Claimant/appellant argues inter alia that the JCC erred in limiting the award of attendant care benefits to 12 hours per day from October 24, 1989, the date of the claim, forward.

On August 16, 1984, claimant sustained, within the course of his employment with Multi Line Can Company, a devastating injury to his neck and lower back. As a result of the injury, claimant suffered paralysis, weakness, and loss of feeling in his right arm. Claimant is right-handed. Claimant underwent neck surgery for the purpose of relieving his symptoms, but the surgery afforded him only temporary relief. After the surgery, claimant sustained a severe infection of his neck, resulting in permanent damage to his trachea and larynx. Claimant underwent an emergency tracheostomy in April 1985. Because of the severity of the damage to claimant's larynx and trachea, claimant will have to wear a tracheostomy tube for the rest of his life. ¹

The tracheostomy tube requires certain care. The inner part of the tube must be removed five to six times per day to be cleaned, sterilized, and reinserted, apparently into the outer part of the tube. The outer part of the tube must be removed, cleaned, and sterilized every other day. This process must be completed within three to five minutes, or the hole in claimant's throat, claimant's only means of breathing, may begin to close. The tube can clog with mucus at any time, and when this occurs, the situation is life-threatening. The tube must be removed and cleared by the use of a machine.

Page 1073

Claimant testified that he is unable to maintain the tube by himself, in that he would have to use a mirror to position the tube and because he cannot breathe when the tube is clogged. Claimant's wife performs the routine maintenance on the tube. She also stays with claimant 24 hours per day so that she can clear the tube if it becomes clogged.

Dr. Carmelo Saraceno, a specialist in otolaryngology, performed the tracheostomy on claimant. Dr. Saraceno testified that, within a reasonable degree of medical probability, claimant will require 24-hour, on-call attendant care for the rest of his life for two reasons. First, tracheostomy patients, in general, are unable to perform emergency suctioning of their tracheostomy tubes. Second, claimant, in particular, would find it "very, very difficult" to perform the routine care of his tracheostomy tube because of...